As a West Coast transplant in Syracuse, understanding the city’s borders and its culture has been confusing. After eight months, I can’t say I feel completely comfortable living here. And, it’s not about not knowing street names and the surrounding towns, it’s about a lack of connection to the local culture and a sense of longing for home.

Syracuse isn’t the worst place to live, nor is it a place that lacks history — I just haven’t found my stake in the community because it’s so different from my hometown of Las Vegas. The local food culture and the dating scene are limited, but I’ve managed because I’ll only be here for 13 months.

In July, when I moved to Syracuse, I spent a couple of weeks feeling othered before I started connecting with my classmates and the local Black community. Despite the inclusive Black culture on campus, I still felt so different when walking through the halls of the Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Domonique Louis-Charles, a current graduate student and Syracuse University alumna, also described a sense of otherness when asked about her time in Syracuse. “Even with the number of minority students on campus, there is an isolating feeling. Whether it’s in the classroom setting or in organizations, it’s a feeling you’re cognizant of,” Louis-Charles said.

Despite having already attended SU, she has felt even more isolated since starting her graduate program at Newhouse due to microaggressions and program demographics. Louis-Charles is in a program with 20 people as one of three Black students.

Louis-Charles and I are both in the same graduate program, but we’re split into different cohorts and our classes are conjoined with other programs, so we are rarely in a class with more than two Black students.

Considering only 8.8% of SU graduate students were counted as Black in the fall 2021 census, I know we should feel lucky that our program is 15% Black. We’re rarely together, though, so I can’t always fight the feeling of exclusion.

When I walk onto campus, it feels like I’m entering an environment that’s completely separate from the city. It feels like everyone speaks the same language, but I haven’t mastered it yet. Even if I try to code switch, I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something that will help me fit in.

I know I’m not the only student who feels different, but I rarely interact with people who grew up in a culture similar to mine, making it hard trying to call SU home.

Michael Spencer is a graduate student in Public Relations. His columns appear bi-weekly and he can be reached at mspsnce02@syr.edu.

Published on February 22, 2022 at 12:22 am